Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Eric Hickey is the Dean of the California School of Forensic Studies at Alliant International University. As Professor Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, Dr. Hickey has taught many courses involving the psychology of crime, serial and mass murder, profiling sexual predators, crime scene investigations, victimology, criminal personalities, threat assessment, school and workplace violence prevention. He has also taught seminars at several universities and colleges, as well as for jail and prison staff trainings and supervises theses and dissertations involving forensic psychology.

Dr. Hickey has considerable field experience working with the criminally insane, psychopaths, sex offenders and other habitual criminals. He consults with private agencies and testifies as an expert witness in both criminal and civil cases. He is a court qualified expert in paraphilia including pedophilia, child molestation, fetishes; stalking; adult rape and sexual assault; violent criminal behavior including robbery, burglary and homicide (solo and serial).A former consultant to the FBI's UNABOM Task Force, Dr. Hickey currently assists local, state, and federal law enforcement in training and investigations as well as assisting in the review of cold case files. His seminars for law enforcement and mental health practitioners focus on profiling, investigation, classification and prevention of sex crimes, arson, robbery, homicide, stalking, workplace violence and terrorism. He has worked closely with California’s Peace Officer Service Training (POST) in developing course material and job aids for investigators. Dr. Hickey is a member of an FBI Threat Assessment Regional Evaluation Team that addresses campus violence and potential threats. Dr. Hickey is also an Independent Contractor with Robson Forensics.

He is internationally recognized for his research on multiple homicide offenders and has conducted seminars in countries throughout Europe, Asia and North America. He has also trained VIP protection specialists in Israel in profiling stalkers, threat assessment and interventions. His current research focuses upon the development of his theory of relational paraphilic attachment (RPA) and sexual predators. He is also writing his first novel, The Crib, a disturbing journey into the minds of psychotics, psychopaths and the criminally insane. His expertise is regularly sought by the media including appearances on CNN, History Channel, NPR, Larry King Live, 20/20, A&E Biography, Oxygen, Good Morning America, CBC, True TV, Discovery, OWN and TLC.

Dr. Hickey has published several books and articles on the etiology of violence and serial crime. His most frequently cited book, Serial Murderers and Their Victims, 2013, 6th ed., (Thompson-Wadsworth-Cengage Publishers), is used as a teaching tool in universities and by law enforcement in studying the nature of violence, criminal personalities and victim-offender relationships. Another of his books, The Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime, (Sage Publishers), explores the phenomenon of murder and violence through the eyes of some of the world’s most noted experts. His book, Sex Crimes and Paraphilia (Prentice-Hall Publishers),is a comprehensive examination of sexual perversions, sex offending and sexual predators. A coauthored book, The Myth of a Psychiatric Crime Wave, (Carolina Academic Press) examines the misperceptions and reality of the mentally ill and mentally disordered as criminals.